Private cooking experiences · Solihull and Birmingham
Mexico at heart. The world at your table.
Cook with confidence, curiosity, and joy in your own home, guided by a chef who believes your best dish is still waiting to be discovered.
Not a class to watch.
An experience to live.
Jovana
Mexican chef, restaurateur, and your guide at the table
From my table to yours
I am Jovana. I am a Mexican chef, a former restaurant owner, and an experienced hospitality professional. I have learnt that memorable food is about far more than a recipe. It is about patience, generosity, and the moment someone tastes what they have made and thinks: I did that.
My journey began in Mexico, where food carries family, place, and memory. It continued in the UK through my work in professional kitchens and hospitality, including a restaurant recognised by the Michelin Guide, where precision and service deepened everything I already loved about cooking.
Agave & Apron brings those worlds together. I arrive at your home with carefully selected ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and calm guidance. You bring your curiosity. Together, we make something worth remembering.
“Everyone has culinary talent. Sometimes it simply needs patience, the right technique, and someone who believes it is there.”Jovana
Experiences in your home
Each experience is hosted in your own kitchen and shaped around your confidence, your tastes, and the reason for your gathering. Ingredients, guided cooking, and the pleasure of sitting down to enjoy what you create are all part of the story.
01 · Begin beautifully
£595 up to four guests
Choose from a carefully designed menu and learn the foundations of confident, instinctive cooking.
Additional guests: £115 each · maximum six guests
Choose this experience →02 · The signature
£695 up to four guests
A richer, more immersive menu with storytelling, technique, and a finishing detail chosen especially for your table.
Additional guests: £135 each · maximum six guests
Choose this experience →03 · Entirely yours
£795 up to four guests
A singular culinary experience created from your story, occasion, ambitions, favourite flavours, and dietary requirements.
Additional guests: £150 each · maximum six guests
Choose this experience →Travel within central Solihull is included. Travel to other locations across Birmingham and the West Midlands is quoted clearly before booking. No surprises.
Private chef dining
The refinement of a restaurant experience, created exclusively for you.
For the evenings when you would rather be looked after than take the lesson, I bring the complete dining experience to your home.
I design a bespoke menu around your occasion, guests, preferences, and dietary requirements. Every detail is considered, from menu planning and ingredient sourcing to preparation, cooking, presentation, and a careful kitchen reset.
Culinary experience
My cooking experience spans six distinctive culinary traditions. Each menu respects their individual identities while allowing space for thoughtful, contemporary expression.
Nikkei brings together Japanese techniques with Peruvian ingredients and flavours.
Created forIntimate dinners, celebrations, meaningful gifts, and private gatherings
Designed aroundYour tastes, dietary requirements, occasion, and home
PricingQuoted individually after consultation, according to the menu, guest numbers, and location
The Agave & Apron way
Learn to notice balance, texture, and aroma so that you understand why a dish works.
Your pace, your kitchen, and your questions. There is no performance and no judgement.
You leave with techniques you can repeat, adapt, and make entirely your own.
The recipe room
Every Agave & Apron recipe has a turning point: the moment when heat, acidity, texture, or aroma brings everything into focus. The final touch is not necessarily a rare ingredient. It comes from knowing exactly when and how to use it.
Curious about the missing detail?
A living cuisine
Mexican cuisine is not a single flavour or a fixed set of dishes. It is an ongoing conversation between land, memory, migration, and imagination.
Indigenous communities develop nixtamalisation, transforming maize nutritionally and creating the foundation for tortillas, tamales, and countless regional dishes.
New ingredients arrive and become part of an inventive and complex culinary exchange, without replacing Indigenous knowledge.
Oaxaca’s moles, Yucatán’s recados, Puebla’s celebrations, and coastal traditions reveal a cuisine shaped by distinct places and people.
Traditional Mexican cuisine is inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognising the community practices and living knowledge behind the food.
Chefs and home cooks honour their heritage while responding to new homes, seasons, health needs, and personal stories. That is where we meet.
Jovana’s table notes
The ingredient still tastes like itself. Technique reveals it; it does not hide it.
The best service is attentive without being theatrical. You feel cared for, never managed.
Tradition matters, but so does the courage to interpret it with integrity and purpose.
Skill, warmth, and professional care
Restaurant founderMy Cielito · Mexico
UK chef and hospitality experienceProfessional settings, including a restaurant recognised by the Michelin Guide
Food safety trainedLevel 2 Food Safety and Hygiene · HACCP and allergen awareness
Adaptable cookingHealthy recipes and dietary requirements discussed with care
Begin your experience
Whether it is a birthday, a new skill, a meaningful gift, or simply an evening that feels different, your experience begins with a conversation.
Your selected experience
WhereYour home in Solihull or selected areas of Birmingham
GuestsOne to six
Next stepA relaxed consultation with Jovana
Good to know
No. Before booking, we discuss your space and available equipment. Jovana plans the menu around what works safely and beautifully in your home.
Often, yes. Every requirement must be discussed before booking so that the menu and ingredients can be assessed carefully. Reasonable precautions are taken, but a client’s home cannot be guaranteed to be completely free from allergens.
Yes. Ingredients for the agreed menu are included, along with advance preparation, guided cooking, and your recipe materials.
Travel within central Solihull is included. I can also travel to selected locations across Birmingham and the West Midlands. Any additional travel cost is confirmed clearly before you book.